The Perplexing Phenoma of Blue Lava

Blue Lava

When we think of a natural phenomena, we usually think about an extraordinary space phenomena like the collision of two quasars,the mystery of red giant spot on Jupiter or a gigantic black hole sucking enormous stars from the fabric of space.

But we don’t have to travel a great distance to satisfy our curiosity. Earth is full of perplexing natural phenomenons which will leave you astonished. One such phenomena is Blue Lava that you don't actually believe exists... until today.

The Phenomena:

One of the most disastrous natural events in our world is the explosion of a volcano. But in Indonesia, the Kawah Ijen volcano on the summit of the island of Java appears to stream out stunning blue lava and bright blue rivers of flames.

But the lava is not inherently blue. Instead, this event is caused by the combustion of a high concentration of sulfur in the area of the volcano.

In other words, the lava that erupts from the Earth at extremely high temperatures is nott colored significantly differently than the lava at other volcanoes. But at Kawah Ijen, extremely high quantities of sulfuric gases emerge at high pressures and temperatures along with the lava.

When exposed to the oxygen present in air and spark given by lava, the sulfur burns readily, and produces bright blue flames. There's so much sulfur present that at times it flows down the rock face as it burns, making it seem as though blue lava is streaming down the volcano.

When the blue flames have gone out and the sulfur gas has cooled and combined with the lava to form solidified rock.There is so much sulphur at the Kawah Ijen crater that the miners actually mine it.

Locations:

Blue lava can also sometimes be found in Yellowstone National Park, USA. In the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia the blue rivers of flames can be found over the ground near hydrothermal vents.

In ancient times blue volcano flames were mentioned as appearing on Mount Vesuvius and Vulcano Island in Italy.